Category Archives: World News
‘It’s exactly like a puzzle’: experts on piecing together Roman fresco find
House in southern France yielded find of outstanding wall paintings dating from 1st century BC
On the right bank of the Rhône in the Provençal town of Arles, the Roman-built House of the Harpist is being hailed as a remarkable record of ancient architecture and interior decoration.
Now, experts have opened their workshop to reveal their painstaking attempts to piece together the vast jigsaw of magnificent and never before seen frescoes discovered in the property thought to date back more than two millennia.
Continue reading...Italy could soon make Covid-19 vaccines mandatory, says PM
Mario Draghi’s announcement sparks row in country where protests and violence from anti-vaxxers are on the rise
Italy’s prime minister has announced his government could make Covid-19 vaccines mandatory, sparking a row in the country that has seen a recent rise in protests and violence from anti-vaxxers.
During a press conference on Thursday, Mario Draghi said all Italians of eligible age could soon be obliged to get a shot, as soon as the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gives its conditional approval for four vaccines.
Continue reading...Evidence contradicts Taliban’s claim to respect women’s rights
There are signs of a return to something worryingly close to the hardline restrictions of the past across Afghan life
When Taliban fighters moved into Herat city in western Afghanistan last month, one thing mattered more to some of them than the battle itself. As gunmen faced off around the governor’s office, a group of militants came to Shogofa’s* workplace and ordered all the women home.
“They hadn’t even taken all the city, but they came to our headquarters. The manager called an emergency meeting and they told all the women to leave,” she said.
Continue reading...Iranian fuel tanker heading for Syria poses test for US sanctions
Contents will be trucked to Lebanon to ease energy crisis, a plan that could challenge US resolve towards two foes
An Iranian tanker carrying fuel bound for Lebanon was at anchor in the Red Sea on Friday ahead of the final leg of a voyage to Syria, which is set to pose the biggest test yet to US sanctions imposed on two arch regional foes.
The tanker is expected in the Syrian port of Baniyas early next week, in defiance of US sanctions that prevent oil exports from Iran and imports to Syria, which have both been subject to stringent US-imposed restrictions on trade. The imminent arrival is being hailed by the Lebanese militant group turned political bloc, Hezbollah, as a sanctions-busting solution for an energy crisis that has brought Lebanon to a standstill and led to widespread blackouts.
Continue reading...‘My homeland, my only love’: fleeing Afghans embrace 1998 song
Lyrics to My Homeland strike powerful chord with new generation of refugees from war-torn country
As yet another generation of Afghans fled their homeland over the past fortnight, one song has resonated as a poignant anthem for the exodus.
My Homeland – Sarzamin i Man in Farsi – was written in 1998 by the singer Dawood Sarkhosh, who himself had to leave Afghanistan in the civil war that erupted following the Soviet withdrawal.
Continue reading...New Zealand attack suspect ‘found with IS propaganda earlier this year’
Judge said court report suggested man shot dead by police posed high risk of reoffending
The man shot dead by police after stabbing six people in an Islamic State-inspired attack on Friday was reportedly sentenced by a New Zealand court earlier in the year for possessing IS propaganda that encouraged acts of violence and terrorism.
The man, whose name is covered by legal suppression orders and who is referred to only as “S” in court proceedings, was reportedly found guilty by a jury of possessing objectionable material, and failing to assist a police officer exercise a search power.
Continue reading...Paris attack survivors await start of France’s biggest ever criminal trial
20 men accused of involvement in 2015 massacre, but it is unclear whether the key accused will break their silence
Deep inside Paris’s historic law courts on the bank of the River Seine, builders were putting the finishing touches to an extraordinary architectural structure described as a cross between a high-security bunker and modern church.
Its sleek pale wood and white lighting were chosen by the French justice ministry to create “a sense of calm” in contrast to the horrific events which will soon be examined there. This temporary structure will from next week host the biggest criminal trial ever held in France, when 20 men are accused of planning, aiding and carrying out the November 2015 Paris terrorist attacks on a stadium, bars and restaurants and the Bataclan concert hall.
Continue reading...‘You’ve never faced these choices’: Jen Psaki tells reporter on anti-abortion question – video
The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, made an earnest retort to a journalist questioning Joe Biden's support for abortion. The US president condemned the supreme court decision not to consider a Texas law that in effect bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
'It's a woman's body and it's her choice. I know you've never faced those choices, nor have you ever been pregnant,' said Psaki adding that the president believed a woman's choices should be respected
Continue reading...‘Monsters at the door’: migrant workers trapped in UN Afghan compound
Security contractors among hundreds from the Philippines, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka stuck without clear plans for evacuation
When Taliban fighters started to kick at the door of a UN compound in a northern province 250 miles (400km) from the Afghan capital, Kabul, Rajesh* was certain he was going to be killed.
The Taliban had taken control of the area on that day. Rajesh, a UN security contractor from India, hurried with his colleagues into an emergency steel-doored room. Before they sealed themselves in, they saw a group of seven or eight heavily armed men.
Continue reading...Delivering babies in a Nigerian camp: ‘I’ve had to use plastic bags as gloves’
After seeing a woman die in childbirth, Liyatu Ayuba stepped in and has now delivered 118 babies in a community cut off from public health services
Having watched a woman and her baby die needlessly after being refused admission to a hospital over a lack of money, Liyatu Ayuba wanted to never let it happen again.
The 62-year-old is one of Nigeria’s nearly 3 million internally displaced people (IDPs) – driven out of their homes by the violence of the Boko Haram Islamist militants. Ayuba fled Gwoza in the north-eastern state of Borno in 2011 with her family. After her husband was killed by Boko Haram and her teenage son badly wounded, she went to the makeshift Durumi 1 IDP camp, in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, where about 500 families live.
Continue reading...How street art is helping young migrants paint a brighter future in Italy
An innovative community project has brightened buildings, ‘brought people together’ and provided an emotional outlet after traumatic journeys
Jadhav*, 18, from Bangladesh, arrived in Italy 10 months ago, but is still haunted by memories of his journey with people smugglers across the Mediterranean Sea.
“There were 156 people packed into a small boat. There were women and children,” says Jadhav in broken Italian and Bengali translated on a smartphone app. “Waves were coming over the side. People were weeping. There was no hope of survival.”
Continue reading...New Zealand: Covid-positive escapee had tried to flee hotel quarantine three times, officials say
Man’s mother said she had called police on her son when he left home in Auckland after receiving his positive test result
A man who tested positive for Covid-19 before absconding from a quarantine facility in Auckland on Thursday had attempted to escape three times before he was successful, health officials report.
New Zealand police arrested the man at a south Auckland address on Thursday afternoon, roughly 10km from the Novotel Ibis hotel in Ellerslie, where he was quarantining. He had been in the community for at least 12 hours at the time of his arrest.
Continue reading...US regulator grounds Virgin Galactic space planes as it investigates July flight
- Flight to edge of space veered off course during descent
- Virgin criticizes ‘misleading characterizations’ of incident
Virgin Galactic space planes, which the British billionaire Richard Branson used to launch his journey into space in July, have been temporarily grounded by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) while it conducts an investigation into an issue that occurred during the 11 July flight.
“Virgin Galactic may not return the SpaceShipTwo vehicle to flight until the FAA approves the final mishap investigation report or determines the issues related to the mishap do not affect public safety,” the FAA said in a statement to the Guardian on Thursday.
Continue reading...Mikis Theodorakis, Zorba composer and political maverick, dies aged 96
Musician will be best remembered for scoring the film Zorba the Greek and defiance during military rule
The renowned Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis, who scored the 1964 classic film Zorba the Greek and was an icon of resistance to the former military junta, has died in Athens, aged 96.
A prolific talent and political maverick, Theodorakis was revered in his home country for his inspirational music and defiance during the junta that ruled from 1967 to 1974.
Continue reading...Abba reunite for Voyage, first new album in 40 years
Swedish hitmakers to release album of brand new material in November, and digital avatars will appear in London concert residency in 2022
One of the most anticipated comebacks in pop culture has finally come to pass: the return of Abba.
Forty years after the bitter songs written in the wake of two band divorces for their last album, 1981’s The Visitors, the Swedish pop quartet have reunited for Voyage, an album of brand new songs that will be released on 5 November – including, they say, a Christmas song. Two tracks from it, the stately and epic ballad I Still Have Faith in You and the shimmying Don’t Shut Me Down, are out now.
Continue reading...Biden condemns US supreme court’s ‘unprecedented assault’ on abortion rights
- President denounces justices for failing to block Texas ban
- Vows to ‘ensure woman have access to safe and legal abortions’
Joe Biden condemned the US supreme court on Thursday, saying it had delivered “an unprecedented assault on a woman’s constitutional right” in a rebuke of its decision not to consider a Texas law that effectively bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
Related: Biden launches ‘whole-of-government’ effort to protect Texas abortion rights after ruling – live
Continue reading...Evacuations from Kabul may resume ‘in near future’, says Raab
Foreign secretary says UK must engage with Taliban in Afghanistan after meeting with Qatari officials
Evacuations may be able to resume from Kabul airport “in the near future”, the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has said as he expressed a need for direct engagement with the Taliban.
Speaking after talks in Qatar on Thursday, Raab raised hopes that the Britons and Afghans left behind may be able to leave on flights from Afghanistan’s capital.
Continue reading...Storm Ida: flooding in New York – in pictures
Record-breaking rainfall brought by the remnants of Storm Ida has swept through the New York area leaving parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn and New Jersey affected by rare flooding
Continue reading...Some slept, some cried, all were now refugees: inside one of the last Afghan airlifts
Those on board the cramped military plane weren’t granted a last glimpse of their homeland before the difficult journey ahead, while all knew thousands still waited desperately below
The American marine shouted “push!”. And hundreds of people did, shoving inside the Boeing C-17 military aircraft; tumbling over, then pulling their bodies into tight huddles on the floor to let as many others in as possible.
As the rear door closed and the deafening engines started, lifting the heavy plane off the runway at Kabul’s international airport, people broke down wailing; crying. Now refugees.
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